A Day at Indian Mound Reservation with Smiley

swimming in silver lake w/ my swim buddy Smiley

Want

I want a chair like this (not in that pattern tho)

Taken in the UWM Union

Confined

We streamed a Canadian TV movie called "Confined", about a woman who suspects her neighbor of keeping captives in his basement. Obviously she's right or there wouldn't be a movie, but what I kept coming back to was this: she was a paranoid, nosy, nearly delusional woman who just happened to score a W. Put her in any other neighborhood and she'd do the same things to anyone. Kinda creepy in that regard.

Bossypants

I finished reading Tina Fey's autobiography "Bossypants". It was funny and well written, and features some genuine tips on leadership sprinkled amidst the funnies. I still think her time on SNL is over-valued because of the novelty of her gender (at the time), but I have a lot more respect for her now.

Your Attention Please:

Today, at 2:06 pm CST on July 27th, 2011, at the age of 37, I had my first Big Mac.

@ the Domes

We All Fall Down by Michael Harvey

Late last night I finished reading Michael Harvey's 'We All Fall Down', a novel about a bio-terror attack on Chicago. I thought it was OK, but I won't be picking up other books by the author. The style was a little 2nd rate Spillane for my taste. It also took way too long for the main thrust of the novel to take shape, and when it did it held center stage for the blink of an eye. It grades at a C.

An afternoon at Bradford Beach

This afternoon I took my four kids and YaYa's friend Anna down to Bradford beach - alone. Yikes. It went smoothly, and we spent 2 1/2 hours down there enjoying the water and playing in the sand. Those who know me well know that although I don't avoid the water since the drowning incident, I traditionally wouldn't think of taking the kids to a pool/lake alone. This was progress.

This Afternoon

This afternoon I took my four kids and YaYa's friend Anna down to Bradford beach - alone. Yikes. It went smoothly, and we spent 2 1/2 hours down there enjoying the water and playing in the sand. Those who know me well know that although I don't avoid the water since the drowning incident, I traditionally wouldn't think of taking the kids to a pool/lake alone. This was progress.

The Adjustment Bureau

We just got done watching "The Adjustment Bureau" w/ Matt Damon. It was a good flick, but nothing earth shattering.

The Warren, Arkansas Tornado of 1949

Today I spoke to an old black man who told me about a tornado that hit his farm on Jan 3, '49, when he was 14 yrs old ("I never forgot the date"). His family survived but his house "exploded" and "one black man" was killed; the tornado moved on to nearby Warren AK & killed 54 whites. 

The man claimed angry white residents wanted to even the score by their own hand, but I can find no record of that in the limited web search I did to verify the story.

Specifically, he said that white residents "said God must have been a nig*er that day" because of the uneven death toll.

He said he and his Dad were in the barn and were cut and bruised, but that his Mom, who was in the field, was thrown a distance but uninjured. He also told me the name of the dead black man, but I only remember the first name of Jimmy. He said his Dad found debris in their field from farms 40 miles away.

Amy Winehouse

RIP Amy Winehouse, dead at the appropriate rock star age of 27

30 Rock

Last night Lis & I finished streaming season 1 of '30 Rock'. I remain a tepid fan of Tina Fey, but the show itself is LOL funny, and Alec Baldwin is *so damn good *  I  completely forgive him for being a whackadoodle Democrat. I look forward to watching Season 2, right after we catch up on the second season of Teen Mom.

Paper Mache Art

It. is. Hot

A - Current temp, according to JSOnline? 93 degrees, w/ a 'feels like' of 99. The temperature at chest level on my back porch, according to our outdoor thermometer? 120 degrees PLUS. And yes, it works. B - That dog bite is really throbbing today, and I have a full day of work ahead to make sure it feels real purty. Yay Me.

A Fight . . . at College for Kids?

I just took a call from a UWM administrator who said that Yaya and LuLu got in a fistfight with each other over a pony tail holder. I think I squashed it over the phone w/ copious threats of violence of my own, but c'mon -only my ^%* kids could be expelled from college before they even graduate grade school.

I love the rain

outside on the porch, enjoying the rain and thunder. The air smells funky tho, like it does when you clean out a fish tank. Odd.

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

Lisa polished off Jaycee Dugard's book in under a day. She enjoyed it (as much as you can enjoy something of that nature) but noted that the book was very simply written, as befitting someone with a 5th grade education (or a ghostwriter matching the voice of the subject).

Winne-the-Pooh

Today, as planned for weeks, Lisa took junie to see the new Winnie The Pooh movie. It was her 'special day' while the other kids enjoyed College for Kids at UWM. Aside from the insanely high ticket prices for a kids matinee, they had a great time. I'm told the movie was sweet, funny, and the perfect length to keep a three year old entertained. A nice mother/daughter day.